Deputy Chief Constable Louisa Rolfe said 999 performance has improved since December, but conceded that 101 service had still not improved dramatically because of a focus on answering emergency calls instead.

She told the Strategic Police and Crime Board that the ongoing problems were “inextricably linked with resources.”

The previous failings were revealed in December in a report from Assistant Chief Constable Gareth Cann, who said 172,381 calls were abandoned after the 30 second threshold was reached.

Police and Crime Commissioner David Jamieson and police officer

Police and Crime Commissioner David Jamieson said: “This is an issue of real importance. The real problem is for people making more routine contact and the length of time they had to wait. We are going to keep your feet to the fire on this.

“This is not a criticism of the people who are working exceedingly hard in this area, the problem is there is not enough of them.”

Both the emergency (999) and non-emergency (101) departments are currently being merged as part of huge changes being introduced across the force, under the 2020 modernisation programme.

Operators will soon be trained to handle both types of calls and bosses say there will be a recruitment drive to replace staff and increase numbers.